When Blade Runner 2049 was announced, many cinephiles reacted with suspicion. Ridley Scott’s original 1982 film is one of the staples of the science fiction genre, and one that posed a long-term question – is Deckard a replicant? – that geeks have been arguing about ever since. But a sequel? Now? Really? Then Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Sicario, Enemy) signed on to direct, and he brought legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins with him. The tide began to shift. Fans were still hesitant, but there was some hope.

Now, the first reactions to the film have hit the web, and they’re wildly positive. Has Villeneuve done the impossible and delivered a new sci-fi classic? Read the first Blade Runner 2049 early buzz below.

Wow. I haven’t seen praise that effusive since War For The Planet of the Apes, and considering that is one of my favorite movies of the year so far, I’m now anxiously awaiting a screening of Blade Runner 2049. The word “masterpiece” is used four times in those tweets above, which is an awful lot considering that particular group of critics, who aren’t often as prone to exaggeration as some others online.

Of all the reactions I’ve seen so far, the only one with anything even remotely resembling hesitation comes from io9 editor Katharine Trendacosta:

Blade Runner 2049 is gorgeous, and I still don't know if I loved it. I'm still thinking about it, though, and that's good.

And as you can see, even she has lots of nice things to say about the film. We could very well be looking at the real deal here, folks. As usual, when a studio allows responses out in the public this far before a movie’s release date, it’s a display of confidence on their part; generally speaking, they know when they have a solid film on their hands, and that definitely seems to be the case with this. Consider us officially excited.

Officer K (Ryan Gosling), a new blade runner for the Los Angeles Police Department, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. His discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former blade runner who’s been missing for 30 years.